The Other Us Atlantis
by ebbtide
Summary: Sequal to the SG1 story The Other Us. Rodney McKay and John Shepperd have a little run in with a time warp field emitter. Chaos insues. Complete, but in need of beta help...
1. Chapter 1

The Other Us - Atlantis

By Ebbtide(3/17/2006)

"Dial us home, Rodney!" Major Shepperd ordered.

The wounded soldier leaned against the DHD, and used it as cover to shoot back at the hostile natives they had encountered. Dr. Rodney McKay crawled to one side of the dialing device and punched in the correct symbols for Atlantis before laying a hand over the large activation orb. Both men heard a strange grinding noise as the Stargate's ring slid into place. Once the blue puddle appeared, Dr. McKay quickly dialed in his personal IDC code.

"Help me up." Shepperd said.

He grunted as pain flared across his wounded ribs. The Major grabbed onto McKay's offered hand and used it to pull himself up. Enemy fire was all around them now, energy beams left black scorch marks in the grass.

"Run!" Sheppered yelled above the noise. McKay nodded and half-dragged the Major after him as he sprinted for the open wormhole. They had just reached it when something slammed into Rodney's back sending head first into the Stargate pulling the injured Shepperd down with him.

A Wormhole Away...

Dr. Rodney McKay looked up alarmed when the Stargate suddenly activated. Nobody had been off-world for days now and they weren't expecting to hear from any of the more friendly planets.

"Do we have an IDC code?" Dr. Elizabeth Wier asked as she walked into the control tower.

Rodney studied the computer in front of him for a few seconds. Then a screen popped up. "Yes. I'm reading..._my_ code." He looked down at the Stargate in confusion. "That's not possible."

Wier looked concerned. "Lower the sheild." She turned to Lt. Ford who had walked in behind her. "I need you down there, Aiden."

The soldier nodded and unhooked his gun from it's holster. "Yes, ma'am." He jogged down into the Gate room.

Everyone walked over to the edge of the control tower and watched the puddle expectantly. A few seconds later two men in Atlantis uniforms came flying out of the Gate and slid a few feet across the floor.

"McKay, get off of me!" The voice of Major John Shepperd said angrily from among the tangle of arms and legs.

Wier and McKay shared a horrified look and then turned their attention back to the two men on the Gate room floor. They were slowly helping each other up into a sitting position. It appeared that both of them were injured. Blood was pooling on the orange tile floor, but Wier couldn't tell which one of them it was coming from.

She clicked on her radio. "Medical emergency in the Gate room."

"That can't be me." Rodney denied in shock as he studied his double. "I know I'm taller than that."

Wier shot him a look. "McKay, is there any way that this is some kind of trick? The Wraith can project visions. Do you think that this..." She waved her hand at the two men. "..is one of them?"

He shook his head emphatically. "No way, Elizabeth. We'll have to wait for Dr. Beckett to check them out for sure, but I don't see any Wraith technology creating such a perfect duplicate...except for the height issue we could be twins."

Wier nodded and then started walking towards the stairway. "What height issue?" She wondered under her breath as she went to join the growing group of people in the Gate room.

The Infirmary...Twenty Minutes Later.

Rodney McKay gritted his teeth against the pain in his side. Dr. Carson Beckett was prodding him, searching for any sign of broken bones.

"Well, I think it's safe to say that you're fine, except for one beaute of a burn." The doctor said finally, his thick accent cheerful.

Rodney frowned. "I don't feel fine." He complained sulkily.

The doctor patted his shoulder sympathetically. "It'll take a few minutes for the pain killers I gave you to take affect. Then you'll probably sleep for a couple'a hours."

Rodney didn't respond to this, instead he let his gaze travel over the group of familiar, yet somehow different faces of the people around him. It had taken him a while to get over the creepy feeling he got whenever he looked at his double.

"So, is this like another reality or something?" Major Sheppered asked McKay from the next bed where he had been starring at his double in fascination.

Both McKay's shrugged."It's possible." They responded in unison.

Sheppered shifted impatiently and glared at each McKay in turn.

"What am I suppose to call you?" The Major asked the uninjured McKay.

"Uh, Rodney?"

The McKay on the bed snorted. "Yeah, right. Then what is he suppose to call me? McKay?" He asked sarcastically.

"I have a suggestion." Elizabeth Wier broke in. "A number system would make things a lot less confusing."

Both Major Shepperd's shook their heads at this suggestion.

"No way, Elizabeth. Who's suppose to decide which on of us is John-one?"

The bedridden McKay pushed himself up on his elbows. "I am not going to be Rodney-two." He said with a dignified tilt of his chin. His double glared angrily.

Wier held up a hand. "Fine. You." She pointed to the Rodney McKay standing beside her. "Will be Rodney-A and you." She motioned towards the one on the bed. "Will be Rodney-one. Everybody satisfied?"

The Major's and McKay's exchanged looks before all four nodded in acceptance.

"I can live with that." Rodney-one admitted. "That would make, my Major Shepperd a one also. The other Shepperd will be an A."

"Well, this should prove interesting." Shepperd-A said with an easy grin.

The Next Day...Breifing Room.

"How are they, Carson?" Wier asked, squarely facing the scottish man. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. It wouldn't be easy for him to tell them what he had found out, but it had to be said. He took a deep breath before plunging into a hasty explanation of his unusual patients.

"After they got over their initial shock at being here, they started to tell me about things where they came from. Aparently there are some major differences, which has led Rodney-one to the conclusion that this is an alternate reality of some kind, but I don't think so." The doctor paused and looked down at his tightly fisted hands. "I think that they're from our future." He said in a quiet voice.

Weir raised an eyebrow. "Do you have any way to be sure of that?"

The doctor shook his head. "Only my suspicions, Dr. Wier. All of their tests came back just slightly off from those that I have on our Rodney and Shepperd. I think that the difference is caused by ageing. From what I can tell, they are at least a year and a half older. Other than that they are an exact match to ours. I don't know a lot about alternate realities, so I might be completely off, but I don't think that they would be so similiar to our own Rodney and Major Shepperd." He looked over at Rodney-A for confirmation.

Rodney-A thought for a second. "Although it is possible for two realities to be very, very similar I highly doubt that they could ever be as exact as you're describing." His customary frown deepend. "We have to ask them if they came in contact with anything resembling a time warp field. I think that Dr. Beckett is right about this."

Wier nodded her understanding. "Rodney, Shepperd, I want you two to go ask ...yourselves some questions. Try to find out how they got here and if there is any way that we can send them back. If they are from the future, I'm sure that any information they can give us would be invaluable."

Rodney-A jumped to his feet, his face pale. "You cannot ask them about the future, Elizabeth!" He thumped the table for emphasis. "Anything that we do could cause a major change in the original timeline. We could make things very, very bad for our future-selves."

Carson was troubled by this revelation. "But Rodney-one told me some terrible things about his time. We could fix them. Ford is going to be-."

Rodney-A cut him off with an enraged jerk of his arm. "Don't say anything! We can't even talk about changing the future." He glared at all of the people seated around the table, his gaze settling on Dr. Wier. "No matter how badly we want to change the future, we can't. It's that simple."

Shepperd-A ran a hand through his hair. "Aren't they already changing the future just by being here?"

"Good point." Wier acknowledged. She looked at McKay-A questioningly.

"The timeline could remain relatively pure if we don't allow them access to any major events and if we do not question them." Rodney-A stressed his last point.

"Alright, Rodney, you've made your point. I still want to find out how they got here, maybe that will give us a clue about how we can send them back before they do change something." Wier said giving each member of staff a measured look. "Dismissed."

Infirmary...

"So, this is boring." Shepperd-one muttered grumpily from his infirmary bed.

A half-eaten container of blue Jell-O was balanced upside down over a tray he held in his lap. The Major waited expectantly for the thick dessert to splatter, but nothing happened. He jiggled the container a few times and then set it down on the tray with a disgusted sigh.

"No, this is fascinating." Rodney-one spoke up excitedly. He looked up from the computer his counterpart had brought for his use. "I think that I just figured out how to convert energy from the Naaquada generators with less power waste."

"That's great, Rodney...one." Shepperd pushed the tray onto a nearby table and then leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest in a pout. "But I'm still bored."

The Major turned his head so that he could watch a nurse who was skillfully putting sheets on a recently vacated bed. She had long blonde hair that was curled up and held in place with a multi-colored pencil. He studied her and tried to remember the last time he had seen her. Then his face fell as he remembered the memorial service for those lost during the Wraith seige.

"'And if God so choose, I shall but love thee better after death'." He recited, watching her with sad eyes.

McKay-one looked up from his computer screen. "What was that?" He asked distractedly.

"Elizabeth Barrett Browning." Shepperd-one replied without moving his gaze from the woman. "How can we be here and not change anything?" He wondered aloud.

Rodney-one frowned sharply. "Anything that we change could cause monsterous side effects in the timeline. Rodney-A was right, we cannot talk to anyone about what we know." He followed the Major's gaze and saw the nurse. The scientist blinked, finally understanding. "That doesn't mean that you can't impart some passing wisdom...You know, kinda hint things to certain people." He cleared his throat and then turned back to his computer.

Sheppered smiled. "Advice, that's good, McKay-one. I'd still rather be home, though." He added.

"Well, this is your lucky day then." Rodney-A said smuggly as he walked into the infirmary.

Rodney-one rolled his eyes at his doubles attitude. "What, you have all of the answers now?" He demanded acidly. Rodney-A was unfazed by the sarcastic greeting.

"Maybe not all." Rodney-A admitted. "But I do have the answer to your getting home."

Shepperd-one sat up straight. "You do?"

McKay-A grinned. "Of course." He said with a dramatic flare of his arm. "After going over the remote possibility that you had encountered a quantum mirror, I thought about the grinding noise that you mentioned hearing right before the Stargate activated and I started thinking-."

"SG-1!" McKay-one exclaimed. He slapped a hand to his forehead. "I remember now. They were sent back in time by a device attached to the DHD. The only significant thing about it was a loud grinding noise when anyone activated the altered Gate." He looked up. "That's it. All we have to do is go back to the planet, re-program the device and then dial the Gate back to the planet."

Major Shepperd-one raised his hand. "This might be a stupid question, but why would we dial the address to the same planet that the altered Gate is on? Won't we just get a busy signal?"

McKay-A hugged his chest and chewed a fingernail absently. His double looked on in disgust.

"SG-1 were never able to find out the reason for that. Apparently, the device had precise instructions written in English on the side of it. Dialing the altered Stargate was the final step." McKay-A shot McKay-one a smile. "I'm sure we'll figure it out once we get there."

Shepperd-one picked up his blue Jell-O and took a small bite. "So, this could actually work?" He asked dubiously.

Both McKay's nodded emphatically. "Absolutely."

Shepperd-one shrugged. "You're the genuis...es."

Breifing Room...Two Hours Later.

Wier shook her head. "Absolutely not, Rodney...A." She studied the four crestfallen expressions before her and sighed. "We have no way of knowing for sure that there is an alien device creating a time warp field around the Stargate. Even if there was, we have no way of knowing for sure if you - either of you - can fix it to do what we need."

"If Colonel Carter could do it." McKay-A let his sentence hang in the air a few seconds before adding. "I am positive that if there's a device there, I can fix it. Then we can just unattach the device entirely and this whole mess will never have happened." He sat back with a pleased grin.

Wier spread her hands, palms down, on the table. "Be that as it may, I don't want to chance you two getting stuck on that planet."

"That's sweet." Shepperd-A commented, sharing a sidelong look with Shepperd-one. Then he sat forward in his chair, all playfullness gone. "We'll take a puddle jumper. Our McKay checked out the planet's location and I double checked...it's within an hour of an active Stargate located on a far moon. We've been through that Stargate before so there's no chance of it being tampered with."

Wier nodded. "Alright. I'll give you four an hour to get ready. I don't want this taking any longer than neccessary. Dismissed."

Jumper Bay...An Hour Later.

"Where is he?" Shepperd-A muttered under his breath, checking his watch for the third time. "C'mon."

"Let it never be said that a McKay is anything but punctual." Rodney-A chimed sweetly from where he leaned against the puddle jumper next to his double. They were trying very hard to be polite around each other, without completely loosing their self-respect. It wasn't easy.

"He said something about a last minute thing in the infirmary." Shepperd-A defended his absent counterpart.

"I'm here!" Shepperd-one announced breathlessly as he ran into the jumper bay. "Sorry, I'm late."

McKay-one waved a hand dismissively. "Must've been important." He offered to the surprise of Rodney-A.

"All aboard." Shepperd-A said heading inside one of the puddle jumpers. "I'll drive." He added, and slid into the driver's chair before anyone could object or beat him to it.

Rodney-one slid into a passenger seat, wincing as his side protested. "I can know almost immediatly whether there's a device or not."

Rodney-A shot the scientist a frown. "You aren't the one that's going to fix it, Rodney-one. I am. This is my time, I get to handle the device."

Shepperd-one rolled his eyes as he dialed the Gate address on the puddle jumper console. "You'll both fix the damn Gate." He said with a finality that no one contradicted. Though Rodney-A looked unhappy at the situation.

They went through the Gate.

The Planet...Twenty Minutes Later.

"Yep, there's definently a time warp emitter on the lower half of the DHD. It's got instructions on it just like the one Colonel Carter found seven years ago." Rodney-A reported smuggly.

"You think that you can fix it?" Shepperd-A asked.

Rodney-A frowned, insulted by the Major's seeming lack of trust. "Of course."He replied acidly.

Shepperd-A . "Just checking. So, how long is it going to take you to figure out how to reprogram it. I don't like the idea of the Wriath sneaking up on us. I want this thing fixed as soon as possible so we can get back to Atlantis."

"No problem." Rodney-A bent down beside the DHD and went to work. Everyone else wandered back into the puddle jumper to wait.

"I thought that you wanted to help fix the DHD." Shepperd-A said once they were all seated. He watched Rodney-one with curiosity.

Rodney-one shifted in his chair. "It's not that I didn't want to help, but, you know." He shrugged. "It'll go faster if just one of me is working on it. Besides...I know what I'm doing."

Shepperd-one grinned at the shocked look on his doubles face.

"Yes, you just heard Rodney McKay say something almost humble, don't worry about it, I'm sure that your Rodney will catch up in a few years."

Rodney-one blushed a deep crimson. "All I meant was that I would've probably got in my way, that's all."

"Right." Shepperd-one said with a sarcastic shake of his head.

Puddle Jumper...Some Time Later.

"What happened to him?" Shepperd-A asked his double in a quiet voice, motioning towards a sleeping Rodney-one.

Major-one rolled his shoulders at the question. "You should probably ask him, but I think that it started when he stopped putting his own priorities before everyone elses."

"Wow, McKay actually caring about poeple?"

Shepperd-one nodded slowly. "Not just caring. He's become family with most of Atlantis...and they've become his. It took a while, and he's still a pain sometimes, but he's different from the Rodney McKay that travelled through the Stargate back on Earth."

Shepperd-A studied Rodney-one for a few seconds before shaking his head. "I just don't get how you can take a man like my Rodney McKay and in less than two years turn him into someone who actually cares. These two just seem so different...I really don't understand how ANYTHING can change my Rodney that much. He seems so..."

"Arrogant, conceited, and ego-centric."

Both Shepperds exchanged a look. "Rodney, didn't know you were awake." Shepperd-one said cautiously.

The scientist sat up, wiping a drip of drool off his mouth. "Yeah, I was until you guys decided to start arguing about my change of heart. Which there wasn't." He added hastily, pointing at them for emphasis. This denial only served to strengthen Shepperd-A's belief in the man's general goodness.

"Uh-huh."

"Seriously!" McKay-one defended himself. "I am exactly the same as I was- am - now. Nothing has changed at all. I don't know whatever gave you the idea that I -."

"Might actually show sympathy, feel empathy...care." Shepperd-one asked with a grin.

McKay-one was about to respond, when the radio crackled to life.

"I've fixed it."

The Gate...Ten Minutes Later.

Rodney McKay-A stared into the blue event horizon a self-appreciative grin plastered across his face.

"There see, didn't I tell you." He said to the planet in general.

Rodney-one walked forward and was about to step into the puddle when he finally decided something. He swung around and pinned his double with a death-glare.

"Major's, cover your ears." He ordered without looking away from the suddenly unsure Rodney-A. The Shepperds complied with knowing smiles.

"What's this all about?" Rodney-A asked, he swallowed nerveously. "Are you jealous because I didn't let you help me fix the DHD? Because if that's-."

Rodney-one sliced the air in front of him with a silencing hand. "This has nothing to do with the DHD, it has to do with your attitude." His double shifted uncomfortably as he continued. "You're an arrogant, self-absorbed, short little man and I do not need the extra guilt of knowing that you're out there somewhere to haunt me the rest of my life. You've always wanted people to look up to you and trust you with their futures. Well, I can tell you from personal experience that it will never work unless you give in a recipercate." Winded, McKay-one took a step back.

McKay-A stood with his mouth hanging half open unable to respond. Realizing that whatever had taken place was now over, both Shepperds removed their hands from their ears.

"Shall we." Shepperd-one asked his Rodney, throwing his arm out towards the Stargate.

Rodney-one shot a final look at his double. "Gladly, Major." Then they stepped through the event horizon.

McKay-A watched the Stargate deactivate itself and leaned over the DHD to unattach the alien time warp device.

"I am _not_ short." He muttered under his breath.

Present Day...Gate Room- Atlantis

Rodney McKay stepped out onto the orange tiled Gate room floor and smiled widely. Elizabeth Weir and Dr. Beckett had been prewarned of their arrival via radio and were waiting for them at the base of the stairs leading up to the control tower.

"I did it." He said happily. "We're really home.

"Now, Rodney, don't go getting all ...what did you call it?...Ego-centric all over again." Shepperd said, patting his friend on the shoulder. "I happen to like you just the way you are."

"No worries about that, Major." Rodney reassured him with another huge smile. The scientist went to join Weir and Dr. Beckett, but Major Shepperd walked for an exit.

"I'm going to wait for you at the infirmary, let Rodney do the debreifing." He told Weir with a weary wave. The base commander nodded her understanding and let him walk alone to the infirmary.

As soon as he walked through the door, John Shepperd started searching each cubicle. Minutes passed and he didn't find who he was looking for, his search became more frantic until he was running through the rooms surrounding the infirmary.

"Can I help you, Major Shepperd?" A familiar voice asked from a side corridor. Shepperd looked over and was relieved to see the blonde haired nurse standing there, her hair twisted up and held in place with a pencil.

"You're here." The Major breathed, his voice full of questions.

She smiled softly. "Thanks to you. I found the note you left for me. . .It saved my life, Major." Her blue eyes misted over with tears, she reached forward and laid a hand on his shoulders. "Thank you, Major Shepperd."

He shifted from foot to foot unsure of what to say. "I guess you're welcome, nurse..." He realized that he had never asked her name.

She grinned. "Evans. My name is Amelia Evans."

He slid her hand into his and wiped away a tear from her cheek with his thumb. "So, Nurse Amelia Evans, how do you feel about lunch?"

THE END...for now.


	2. Chapter 2

I forgot to put a disclaimer. So, this is it.

I don't own any of these characters or make any money off of them. It's just for fun. ).


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